18 February 2009: War Child Gig, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London (Fan Reviews)
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Ive just gotten back, OMG the greatest night of my life. BONO AND GARY FROM TAKE THAT CAME ON STAGE FOR THE GREATEST ENCORE EVER. seeing Brandon, Gary, Chris , and BONO on the same stage at the same time was absoluttely historical.
[FozPAKMAN]
Just a quickie before sleep. not got time to read the posts which came before, so if any duplication, sorry. Ian's probably twittered most of the highlights. will compile proper report when get back to Manchester tomorrow.
absolutely surreal & awesome.
queued for 7 hours, before doors opened. Had ace time with all the coldplayers in the queue. lots of time to chat, check out twitter.
as we were so close to the front of the queue, we were front row in front of Jonny. Looks like we have some awesome pictures to share.
Killers were great. Coldplay were better, obviously!
Al Murray (pub landlord ) did a bit of gap filling whilst the roadies worked like trojans to get the kit up.
My highlight was when Gary Barlow joined our boys on stage for Back For Good. I am ashamed to admit, I went into complete fan girl mode and screamed like a girl. I have never screamed like that in my life, and I blame Chris for ending the main set with Fix You, which had made me a bit emotional.
The last song with Coldplay, Killers, Brandon Flowers, & Gary Barlow was so surreal, I wouldn't believe it had happened if I didn't have pics.
After the show, we managed to talk to Phil, in a reverse Romeo & Juliet moment!! We spotted him on the balcony so yelled up, and he sat on the edge of the balcony to exchange a few words with us.
that's all for now. night night
[Jenjie]
I've just came back from the best concert of my life with both my favourite bands playing
A unique experience, unrepeatable!
Ok, I knew it was gonna be a special concert but I couldn't imagine something like this! Killers were great: 9/10
Very good, even if short, setlist:
1.Spaceman 2.Somebody told me 3.For reasons unknown 4.Human 5.This is your life 6.Read my mind 7.Mr brightside 8.When you were young
Surprisingly no All these things that I've done! The set was storming, really beautiful. There was a prestigious public in the balcony: Natalie Imbruglia, The Edge, Phil Harvey..etc etc
Present to me! I took Ronnie's drumstick when he threw it!!!
A bit of waiting until the next act.. and there is a kind of stupid comedian (some says pub's landlord, baahh) The balcony gets more and more crowded
Lights fade away and there is Strauss' Waltz Danubio playing!
Ta na na na na na na ta na na na na na na...
1.Life in technicolor 2.Violet hill 3.Clocks 4.In my place 5.Yellow 6.42 7.Lost! 8.Fix you
Unfortunately eight songs again but Coldplay will be back for an encore!
9.Viva la vida So far they played perfectly. Chris is doing great (ok he made a Mistake at the piano during the ending of Lost! ) Viva la vita was so powerful that everybody sang as loud as s/he could. Neil Tennant (Pet shop boys) kept singing it from the balcony for so much longer that Chris had to go to his synth and play it again. Is it finsihed? No no.. they even put an extra mic stande close to Chris' one. IT'S GARY BARLOW!!! AHHHHHHHHH And Coldplay are playing BACK FOR GOOD!
Is it finished now? NOoooooooo!!! .................. !!!!!!!!!!! Killers come back to the tage and, with Brandon in casual dress, he starts singing at the piano: When there's nowhere else to run Is there room for one more son One more son If you can hold on If you can hold on, hold on
Incredible duet Coldplay/Killers But it's not finished.. PAUL HEWSON CAME IN!!! (known to the most as Bono Vox) And now? Chris call gary again! So we have Chris, Brandon, Bono and Barlow! Among the public Gwenny was singing loudly
[laura84]
Great gig! Did anyone else who had seated tickets just get waved through into the stalls like we did? Magic! We queued up at 9:25, but were still able to get a decent view down on the floor!
The Killers set felt a bit short, but Coldplay's excellent set made up for it, and what a finale
Wish I'd taken my camera, only took a few crap phone-camera pics, but nevermind.
Got back to mate's flat at 3am after the gig. Now sitting at my desk at work. Needless to say, I'm sleepy.
Thanks again to the forum for helping me find the tickets!
[PirateKitten]
Oh my goodness. That was quite possibly the BEST night of my life. I got there are about 6pm, & ended up being in the third row, slightly to the right... and it was close enough. Kind of regretting not taking my camera but I got some reasonable phone shots...
I've always liked the Killers, but never been a particularly huge fan... but wow. I never knew Brandon Flowers was so beautiful? His smile was just aaaamazing. Coldplay obviously were just sensational. I need say no more on that The people in front of me were asking the security guards if Bono was coming, and they said no he didn't turn up, so obviously when he walked on stage, it was completely unexpected and totally magical.
I can't believe how many celebrities were there?! I'm so lucky to have been a part of it Despite the huge man shoving in front of me before Coldplay came on, and then proceding to film the whole thing on his phone and not look at the actual stage ONCE. Nevertheless, incredible
[BethWhalley]
Hi Bethany, I was the girl in front of you in the purple top who was trying to get the guy removed! Thank god he finally left!!!
It was the same for me, the best night ever! Totally worth waiting from 5:30pm in the queue and getting to be in the second row. I totally agree about the Killers, totally blown away, Brandon was so charismatic and the performance was faultless. Could have done without the Pub Landlord. Think he crashed and burned a bit but those 'filler' moments never work, especially with so many champagne drenched celebrities!
Was so magical when Coldplay came on. I have never been this close to the front at any gig before and it just made the whole experience the better. It was slightly ruined for me by the fact that virtually the whole of the front line were die-hard Killers fans whose body language stank when Coldplay came on. Thought it was a bit rubbish that having left the Brits and won nothing they were met with disinterested faces (certainly by my bit) the girl in front was editing her holiday photos on her camera! Anyway, despite this it was the best gig I have ever been to. Wish it was tonight all over again!
Thought Gary Barlow was brilliant, wasn't overly impressed with Bono although I did squeal like a banshee when he came on for some reason!
Thanks for letting me share!
[Nessy82]
Hi!
I’m finally at home. I had one hour of sleep… so please excuse if everything I write is confusing
Where to start?
Thanks to a very nice Hotel Manager I could check in at my hotel one hour earlier. She saw my ticket for the gig when I took out my hotel confirmation and was really interested and wished me fun! Yes, I had fun indeed...
So I arrived at 3pm at the Empire to find other Coldplayers already queuing. Like the others said before – it was fun meetin up and chatting and it was such a nice picnic atmosphere with all the blankets, Pringles and Jaffa Cakes!! When we got inside I couldn’t believe that we were front row!! I didn’t expect it so I was already so happy!! Also we were all standing together! even more
Somehow the 2 hours waiting inside passed away and it started! I’m uploading my videos at the moment, I’ll post them as soon as they’re completed.
This drunken boy on the balcony was funny at the start but when it looked like he would fall down it was more scary!
Brandon’s trousers were REALLY REALLY TIGHT! The set was short but amazing!
I skip a little as most of the stuff happening can be seen in the videos or was told by someone else already.
I regret that I didn’t film the part where Chris was leaning backwards at the piano! When he got up again the piano’s front part was lifting a little and I was afraid it would fall!! So glad it didn’t.
And about his crazy dancing: He was amazing!! Where does he take all this energy from?? During Lost!, when there was the “Ohhh and I'm... Just waiting until the firing stopped” line Chris was moving so abruptly that for a moment I thought “OMG? Is he having a seizure??”
Then during “In My Place” Chris sat down right in front of us!
(You will see in my videos that I didn’t really pay attention whether I was filming them completely or not – I was just holding my camera the way I thought it would be ok and enjoyed the concert with my eyes on the boys instead of on the screen…)
So during “IMP” he sat down right in front of us and I just pressed the record button – my video is upright!! See, I just didn’t think at the moment, I just looked and enjoyed and tried to breathe in and out.
I think we all divided our “media caption of the concert” perfectly. You will see that Kirsten made some really amazing pictures!! I was more or less only filming. The sound isn’t that great but for me the viewing pleasure makes up for the lack of audio quality…
When Chris introduced Gary Barlow I didn’t believe it could become any better. I am not a TT fan but seeing Jenjie’s sparkling eyes and Chris having so much fun… it was great! I can’t find words to describe it at the moment (see – the lack of sleep…)
We could see the setlist of The Killers and “All These Things” had been on it but they didn’t play it… It came later as we all know now! In my video you can see Chris going up to Gary and taking him on the stage! Amazing is the only word coming to my mind now. The atmosphere was incredible. We all witnessed a great come-together of great musicians…
The roadies were giving out plectrums and setlists and so on and then we saw Phil sitting on the balcony rails. You already know what happened!!
When the concert was over we were waiting inside for everybody to get their coats and me and some others bought the T-shirt (wearing it at the moment!!)
Outside it was unsurprisingly still f***ing cold and my back, legs, just everything hurt. We saw some of the celebs leave the venue at one entrance and when someone left at another exit it wasn’t hard to tell as the flashes of the paps were creating a disco-like stroboscope ball around them.
So it was getting really late and this pap told us that the others had already left but Chris was still inside. Those of us who were still there decided to wait for another 10 minutes and if he wouldn’t come outside then we’d go home. I couldn’t stand still on my feet any longer so I started walking around slowly in front of the Empire. Then the door of the main entrance opened and Chris walked out! He was walking around me as I was kind of blocking his way to cross the street. I was just standing there with my mouth open – watching him walking away. When he was on the street, me still on the pavement I shouted really loudly “Thank you!!” and the paps were already following him. I thought he would just get inside his car as fast as possible… I was wrong! He was standing there, no intention to get inside the car! So Carol and me decided we’d try to cross the street as well and catch him… Somehow suddenly from the middle of nowhere there was a lot of traffic!
We crossed the street and he was still there! He said “Ok, I’ll just stand here and you take your pictures.” He was only paying attention to the fans, ignoring the paps. Carol got an autograph!! I wasn’t fast enough to get out of my gloves to get out a piece of paper… Nevermind. It was great. Then after a while he said he had to leave now. People begged him to give some more autographs but he said “Hey, it’s almost tea time, I really have to go.” Typically Chris – still joking at 3am!
So he got in the car and drove away. You know at this very moment that I type it I have a high blood pressure again, haha!
So to sum it all up: A lot of stuff happened I had never expected. Best night I ever had in London.
Have to say it again: Queuing and waiting for 8 hours sounds extreme… but I had so much fun! Thanks to all of you!! It was great meeting so many Coldplayers and you made the time pass so fast!
Can’t wait to meet you again in September!
[SueDeNimes]
After a horrific 7 hour coach journey to London, a moment of panic when mine and Lori's (kissesbirds) mobile phones decided to stop communicating meaning I couldn't find her and Kelly (Kspillers) and a squashed sleep we headed out for the Empire.
We (Kelly, Lori and I) arrived at 11.30 to find we weren't the first in line, a huge group of Killers fans (or Victims ) were there before us, I won't say much about them other than the fact that they were very rude to us upon arrival, they spent about 5 or 6 hours AWAY from the queue in their hotel rooms and just waltzed back into the front of the line and had nothing but bad things to say about Coldplay (which made the announcement that Coldplay would be 'headlining' and not The Killers even more sweet)
We stood for a while before finally other Coldplayers started to join us, Ben (I hope that's right) and his wife were first, Ben posts on the board, but not often, they were lovely and provided us with blankets. Then came Kirsten (LittleMissMessy) and Carol followed by Jen and Ian (King and Queen of Coldplaying), Kara (crazyduckette), Anna (SueDiNimes) andMari (marianslt). The THIRTEEN hour wait was fun, tiring, dull and exciting all at the same time. Hanging out with so many Coldplayers was AWESOME, despite the hours dragging the longer we stood/sat around waiting.
The press were setting up outside and there was a blue carpet for the celebrity guests which took FOUR hours to lay! Then another two hours to vacuum. And Elton John didn't even turn up!
As it came closer to doors opening time some guys with guitars came and sang some (mostly) Coldplay songs! Everyone joined in with the singing, it was a really great moment. I have it on a crappy phone video, which I'll upload soon. The impromptu Viva La Vida was the best. Really amazing. A TV camera then came over and interviewed Kelly (who gave a Coldplaying shout out) and Mari. They also took some footage of us screaming and cheering. Not sure if it turned up anywhere.
Finally after much pushing, shoving etc. the doors opened and we ran for it. Front and Second row for us all! Amazing. Me, Kara, Lori and Kelly were right in front of Jonny! Weeeeeeeee. Another two hour wait followed (marred further by news of Coldplay being ROBBED at the Brits). We passed the time by searching for celebs (we spotted Gwyneth, The Pet Shop Boys and The Edge, oh and Phil of course)
Steve Lamacq emceed the event and promptly introduced The Killers who were AMAZING! Brandon is sooooo intense, he was really going for it and he had the tightest pants ever on! They really impressed me. He sounded great. (And he looked goooooooooooood) We saw Will bopping away throughout the whole thing! He was having a whale of a time Chris joined him for a few songs too, he was singing away.
After The Killers left Al Murray (pub landlord and friend of Chris) came to do a bit of standup, but unfortunately he died a little bit of a death. But it killed some time!
FINALLY it was time for Coldplay to come on (to the sounds of Blue Danube) us hardcore fans at the front conducted and clapped (to the amusement of the Security people) and kicked off with Life in Technicolor, followed by Violet Hill. Jonny's guitar was turned up WAY too loud so his fluffs during his solo were really obvious, he looked so awfully embarrassed, no doubt the presense of The Edge was shredding his nerves. He recovered well though. He complained about the sound of his guitar but unfortunately it remained as bad throughout the show.
Seeing them sooooooo close was amazing, they were literally inches from us. Was hard to take in.
Chris changed the end of the lyric to "If you're pissed, won't you let me know" followed by "If you love The Killers won't you let me know"
At the end he leaned right back off his stool to the floor! Impressive and sexy, but I missed capturing it.
We then got In My Place, the crowd was far more receptive to that one, Chris was going WILD, he was crazed, he was all over the place, kicking his leg out to The Killers fans, running around, he then came over to our side, slid down the wall and sang in a heap on the floor! RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!
Was awesome, he was sweating buckets He also did the usual kneeling down, falling back routine, with Jonny helping him up.
42, which was awesome as usually, Chris' moves were unusually bad tonight, really throwing himself around.
Yellow next. Went down very well.
At one point Chris took his microphone over to Jonny and sang by him. I have a video of that which I'll upload in a bit. Chris made us sing the last part again and again, he was making some really silly comments about Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh and meningitis and Will had his face in his hands! Haha. He was so embarrassed. Was hilarious.
Then Chris stopped mid conversation to ask Will what song was next, to which Will mouthed 'Lost'. We were then allowed to sing the ending again. Haha!
Lost next, Guy's drum was all the way at the back, weirdly, not that you could even tell Guy was there last night, more on that later. More terrible dancing from Chris, he was coming right up close to us though, which was nice.
"Finally" Fix You, which was a great big sing along. Chris' dancing was INSANE.
I looked up towards Gwyneth, just briefly to see what her reaction to the song was (I know, I know curiosity killed the cat ) and she caught my eye I turned away quickly embarrassed. Oooops. Thankfully she was quite far away. Chris looked ready to collapse at the end of that
They went off for a bit, we managed to start a fairly healthy "woah oh oh oooooh" chant, which they came back on to. Chris said the this was to be an awesome encore that would begin with VLV. Everyone got into it of course. Chris had us doing the "woah oh oh oooooh's" over and over.
Next he introduced Gary Barlow (which we had all kind of expected as The Sun had reported it would happen) and they sang Back for Good. Nice big sing a long. Chris looked very excited.
We saw Vicky sneaking in for a look
After Gary had walked off he said the "The Killers were pretty good, Coldplay were not, but we have something amazing lined up for you. We've just come back from Japan and lost all the Brits so have had a shit day, but now we're about to perform with The Killers and Bono" which they did! All These Things That I've Done. Poor Guy and Will had nothing really to do so were stuck with tamborines and such behind the drum kit. Bono came on and sort of minced around a bit, was very strange. Then Chris pulled Gary back on to join in.
It was really bizarre, didn't seem really, all these stars on the stage singing over each other. It was cool! But so very strange.
Finally it was over, so short, and yet so late. Already 2am. We stuck around for a bit, called Matt for a guitar pick (he seemed very taken aback that we knew his name) but obliged. Ripping up the set list too and handing out some promotional picks.
We also saw Phil hanging around the balcony. We all called him and waved. He looked a bit shocked and waved back. "How do I know you?" he asked, we told him that he didn't but we were Coldplay fans from Coldplaying.com and that we sent the postcards, he was very pleased at his and said they were great, he also said that he loved Coldplaying.com and visited it all the time (Hi Phil ) He was very nice and little bit shy. But it was lovely of him to talk to us for a bit.
We went to wait outside for a bit to see the boys but it started to get late, after talking to a pap who showed us some pictures and told us that Chris was actually really quite nice to them and it was someone else related to him that was not (which is understandable really, watching them at work was scary, running around, pushing them in people's faces, in front f cars, I'd be pissed off too) We headed home about 3am as the girls had flights and we'd been on our feet for 16 hours at this point. Chris did come out and sign autographs, but hey ho. Sleep was more important. Next time
All in all a great day! I LOVED meeting all the Coldplayers, especially Jen and Ian who gave me a lift home so I didn't have to endure the coach again. So thank you very much
I just want to add a few things down here. I didn't want this to be a negative review because it was a great day, BUT I think a little bit of constructive criticism didn't hurt anyone. I'm not sure if it was Brits disappointment, or jetlag or general exhaustion, but the boys just didn't seem themselves. Chris was acting especially weird, really manic (well more so than usual) but he was sort of disconnected, wouldn't make eye contact with the crowd even though they were right in front of him (and we know that Chris is ALL about the crowd interaction) it was like he was playing to an arena, not to a small theatre. Guy seemed especially despondent, at one point he wandered over to Will, with his back to the audience, like I said before, it was like he wasn't there
They seemed a little bit like they were on auto-pilot, and like I said, just not themselves, we all agreed later that it was just a really weird vibe. Not something that you usually get from a Coldplay gig. The were great, don't get me wrong, and for anyone who had never seen them before would have been impressed. They were good, great! But it just seemed like something was off. Their touring schedule is insane, like Chris said, they got back from Japan the day before, then spent the day doing Brits stuff and had to do a gig at 12.30am! I hope they're not pushing themselves too hard.
Like I said, it wasn't a bad gig, it was AWESOME, I think they just need to remember that Brits are just clumps of metal and that taking a break won't kill you! In fact, exactly the opposite.
They have a nice long week off now, so I'm sure they'll be back to their best for Australia
[Mimixxx]
More Fan Reviews
There are more fan reviews here 18 February 2009: War Child Gig, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London (More Fan Reviews)
Setlist
Can be found on this page 18 February 2009: War Child Gig, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London (Setlist, Media Reviews & Twitters)
Photos
Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for the War Child gig. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/
Videos
Videos from this show can be found in the first post of the Coldplaying forum live thread for this show at http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54176
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54176
Media Reviews
Can be found on this page 18 February 2009: War Child Gig, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London (Setlist, Media Reviews & Twitters)
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